Prasant Mishra Blog

The no.1 tennis player in world Rafael Nadal proved once again why he is referred as the "King of Clay Court" defeating Novak Djokovick in final to win French Open for record 9th time in his incredible tennis career. Before this French Open 2014 finals Nadal and Djokovick had faced each other in 41 matches out of which 22 were won by the Spaniard Nadal while 19 matches were won by the Serbian Djokovick. This is 6th win for Rafael Nadal over former world number 1 Novak Djokovick in French Open and he is yet to loose a match to the Serbian.

Rafael Nadal with French Open 2014 Trophy (Credit : telegraph.co.uk)

Semi-Final : Rafael Nadal defeated British tennis star Andy Murray in straight sets by 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 quite dominating to cement his place in the finals of French Open for the record 9th time while his opponent in the final Djiokovick defeated Ernests Gulbis to book his place in the finals for 2nd time against the same opponent who defeated him in 2012 French Open finals.

Rafael Nadal started as the favorite due to his amazing record at Paris in French Open where he has lost only 1 match in 65 matches he played before this final. Playing for his first French Open to complete his career slam Djokovick started well and won the first set by 3-6 quite convincingly and took all important lead over Nadal. The way Nadal struggled with his serve and return in first set it looked like as Djokovik is going to complete his career slam this time. But in second set Nadal fought hard to win the set by 7-5 to make it 1-all.

Loss in 2nd set changed the game of Djokovick and he lost the 3rd set in no time to Nadal by 6-2. Nadal was looking as if he is going to finish the match comfortable as Djokovik looked completely lost with his game. Nut, in fourth set Djokovick tried to get back in the match and fought hard before losing the set by 6-4 and also the match and handed 9th French Open title to Nadal. The final ended in 3 hours and 30 minutes in front of the 15,000 spectators.

"If I were a left-hander, maybe I would win the tournament"- Novak Djokovick

Djokovick & Nadal with their French Open Trophies (Credit: sportskeeda.com)

French Open 2014 is 9th Rolland Garros title for Nadal and he has won it most in the history of French Open and also he is only player to win a single Grand Slam for more than 8 times. With this win over Djokovick, Nadal also extended his head-to-head lead against Djokovick to 23-19 in 42 matches while Win-Loss record at Paris by 66-1 which is simply incredible.

Rafae Nadal received his 9th French Open title from legendary tennis player Bjorn Borg who also won this prestigious title for 6 times in career. Now Rafael Nadal have 14 grand slam titles in his name and he is at second position jointly along with tennis legend Pete Samprass while this list is topped by Swiss Great Roger Federer who has won 17 Grand Slam titles in his career.

Grand Slams Won by Rafael Nadal in his career :

Wimbledon : 2US Open : 2 AUS Open : 1French Open : 9

Rafael Nadal can surely break the record of 17 grand slams record by Roger Federer as age is on his side all he needs is a good fitness where he has struggled whole his career. Winning French Open Nadal also increased his bank balance by $ 2.25 Million while runners up Djokovick got richer by $ 1.12 Million.

Rafael Nadal also became first player in French Open history to win this 5 times in a row beating the record of 4 times set by Bjorn Borg who was also there in the stands and later he delivered the winners trophy to Rafael Nadal.